


Digging Deep

by ZapBadger



Category: Dead Space
Genre: Anal Sex, Hallucinations, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-26
Updated: 2013-02-26
Packaged: 2017-12-03 15:56:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/699992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZapBadger/pseuds/ZapBadger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carver senses something's not right with his mind. Isaac knows all too well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Digging Deep

The dead silence sent a chill down Carver’s back. Life-size toy soldiers lined the halls once again, and his mind was itching for something.  
“Carver? You okay?” Isaac stepped in front of him, making the sergeant jump.  
“Uh, yeah. Let’s keep moving.” He muttered, pushing past the engineer with unnecessary force, pretending he didn’t hear the worry in his voice. Calling an elevator down, he heard Isaac sigh behind him before checking his weapon was loaded and stepping up behind him. Carver was vaguely aware of what Isaac had been through upon the Ishimura and Titan Sprawl (Well, what Norton had disclosed to him), and knew that he’d be able to tell if Carver began to feel the effects of the Marker too. __Am I going insane? He wondered, grinding his teeth as the lights in the elevator flickered. I’m not going to let that happen, he closed his eyes as he heard the distant voice of Damara.  
“Oh, but you let it happen, didn’t you John?” She hissed, close to his ear. He fought the urge to flinch, clenching his free hand instead. “Let our family fall apart? Let me and Dylan die?” Her voice slowly grew more and more malicious as she continued, and Carver swore he could feel her breath on his ear.  
“You remember, don’t you? Tearing us apart, limb from limb?” Unconsciously, Carver began to hold his breath, feeling the shadow of his wife surround him, suffocating him, the memory of his transformed family filling his mind. “It’s all you remember, isn’t it? Every time you kill, you see my face. His face. The guilt never leaves John. I’ll never forgive you. You have to make us whole!” She screamed the last word at him and he couldn’t help but flinch.  
“Carver!” He felt Isaac’s hands on his shoulder as he fell forward, gasping for air, helmet folding into his suit. The engineer quickly followed suit, kneeling beside the soldier, a hand on his back. “Carver, don’t lie to me, what happened?” The soldier shook off his hand, tight lipped as he stood up.  
“Nothing Clarke.” He was still slightly breathless, his chest heaving as he glanced down the narrow corridor, checking for any Necromorphs or hallucinations, but he wasn’t about to voice his thoughts to Isaac. His eyes turned back to Isaac after a moment, who was studying him with a mixture of annoyance and worry.  
“Look, I know what’s happening. I know the Markers messing with your head and I can’t help if you don’t tell me.” The soldier grunted in response, turning away from the engineer.  
“I’m fine Clarke. Let’s keep going.” He pressed, reloading his weapon. Isaac was stubborn however, and blocked the path ahead. Carver narrowed his eyes at him in distain. “Move.”  
“No.”  
“Now.” Carver growled.  
“You’re not okay John.” Isaac kept his voice soft, empathising with the man. “Stop the tough act and let me help.”  
“And why should I?”  
“Because I know what’s happening to you and it’ll only get worse. I don’t need you being a liability.” Carver felt anger rise in him at that. If anyone was going to be a liability, it wouldn’t be him.  
“Fuck you. You don’t know everything Isaac. Ellie seems to think you’re the expert on Markers, and I don’t give a shit if you are or not, but you can’t bring them back, it makes no difference to me!” He snarled into Isaac’s face, recoiling a second after, realising he’d given away too much.  
“Who did you lose?” Isaac answered calmly, having however stepped back from Carver. He scoffed and scrubbed his cheek with his hand.  
“Does it matter?”  
“Someone you loved, right? And now they’re telling you it’s your fault they died?”  
“It was my fault! I neglected them, I let them die!” Carver’s gun clattered to the floor as he grabbed both of Isaac’s shoulders. “I loved them, but I couldn’t save them, couldn’t… I couldn’t…” He trailed off as he began trembling. Words were spilling from his mouth that he never intended to tell Isaac. “They changed… into those creatures, in front of my eyes. I had to tear them apart, my wife and son, can you imagine Isaac? I’d never been there for them, never made the time…” He was half aware that the only thing holding him up was Isaac, but the memories took control of him, made his head swim as he remembered. He hadn’t felt like this since then, since the incident. Clutching Isaac for a mixture of support and comfort, Carver tried to bring himself back to reality, hearing the engineer call his name but faintly, as if it was in the distance. He saw the bloodied remains of his family scattered around him and he forced his eyes shut again, which only brought back the memories of Damara’s voice.  
“You killed us Carver. It’s all your fault. You tore this family apart. We would’ve been better off without you.” Isaac began to feel cold beneath his fingers and he let go, falling back onto the floor with a thud. He glanced up to see Damara, blood stained and broken, a twisted smile upon her lips. She extended an arm to him as he scrambled away, fear running through him as his back hit the wall behind him. He searched for an escaped, but she was approaching slowly, cackling.  
“Make. Us. Whole.” She chanted, between laughs, the sound driving deep into his skull.  
“Isaac! Isaac, please!” Carver cried hopelessly, hands clawing at the walls beside him. Damara extended a mutilated hand to him and he pressed his cheek to the lift, scrunching his eyes closed, swallowing back a whimper that he hadn’t known was coming.  
“Carver! Come on!” Roars erupted into his ears, and he bolted upright, sat against the door, eyes wide. Isaac was stood in front of him, blasting away the Necromorphs in front of him, protecting the dazed Carver.  
“Wh-what?” Isaac threw a glance back over his shoulder as he heard Carver produce intelligible words, blind-firing at a Slasher.  
“Back in the elevator, go!” Isaac jolted his arm back into call button, getting tackled to the floor by a Leaper in the process. He grabbed it’s jaws and stopped them from closing around his neck inches away, the creature snapping wildly at him. Carver paused for a moment but the ding of the elevator brought him back to reality and he scrambled back into it, remembering to grab his gun at the last second. Pushing back his fears from before, he aimed the gun at the Necromorph Isaac was still wrestling with, carefully aiming as not to hit the engineer. His hands were still shaking and he missed on the first shot, instead hitting a nearby Puker in the knee. Taking a moment and calming himself, he aimed again.  
“Come on John…” He muttered, this time packing a flurry of bullets into the Leaper’s shoulder just as its teeth began to sink into Isaac’s neck, severing it and leaving the creature howling in anger. Isaac took the opportunity to kick the monster off and pump it full of lead as well, swiftly getting to his feet, backing into the elevator and smashing the button.  
“Ah shit.” He winced, blood trickling down his neck, a few wounds in his arms and shoulders from where the Leaper had clawed him. Carver watched him sit down beside him, slowly regaining his senses.  
“I… I’m sorry Isaac.” The soldier noticed the wounds Isaac had sustained and reached for a med pack, growling when he couldn’t find one.  
“Here, uh, give me a hand?” Carver shifted closer and took the pack from Isaac, applying it softly to his neck.  
“I’m sorry.” He said after a moment, sighing and pulling away when his work was done, chucking away the empty pack. The wounds on Isaac’s neck had now been patched up as well as Carver could manage in his current state. He still wasn’t completely back to his normal self, the way his lips trembled.  
“It’s fine.” Isaac murmured, but Carver could see blood seeping from the wounds on his arms and that had been their last med pack. The elevator came to a stop and Carver got to his feet, taking Isaac’s gun before he could.  
“You’re still bleeding Isaac. Come on, we need to get to a secure room and find a bench along the way.” The engineer chuckled softly as Carver attached Isaac’s gun to his belt and wound his arm around his waist, helping him up. He raised an eyebrow in question.  
“First name terms now?” Carver rolled his eyes, letting Isaac lean on him, a smile tugging at his lips, the terror of the hallucination having worn off now.  
“Shut up. Can you walk?” His voice was quiet, but urgent, and Isaac pulled away to Carver’s disappointment; a feeling that he didn’t expect.  
“Yeah, my legs are fine, let’s go.” Carver gestured for him to go ahead and Isaac walked out quickly, crossing his arms and using his hands to try and stem the bleeding. Keeping his eyes down the sight and his senses sharp, the soldier followed, letting Isaac lead the way to the nearest bench.  
“Look, Isaac.” Carver spoke up after they’d been walking for a few minutes. “I don’t know what happened back there but I’m sorry. It’s this place, it’s fucking with me.”  
“Don’t worry; you handle it a lot better than some people have.” Isaac threw a glance over his shoulder, referring back to the events on the Sprawl.  
“Doesn’t seem like it.”  
“Well, you haven’t tried to kill me yet.” Carver raised an eyebrow but didn’t push further. He knew he’d been trying to escape with Ellie and another guy, but he couldn’t quite remember his name. Suppose that was who he meant, Carver realised, remembering certain things Ellie’d told him.  
It was only a few more corridors and a few Lurkers, which Carver had disposed of quickly, until they reached a bench, where the sergeant managed to craft a few med packs (with Isaac’s instruction) before leading them to the nearest room without any vents and a secure door lock.  
“How’s your neck holding up?” Carver asked as he helped Isaac up to sit on a table, the latter letting his arms cradle by his sides, palms covered in blood.  
“It’s fine, feels healed.” Carver stepped closer to Isaac and gently pulled off the makeshift bandage to see that only two red marks were left to signify the wound.  
“Yeah, yeah it is. Thank God for med packs, eh?” Isaac chuckled in agreement as Carver slowly, almost shyly, undid the top half of his suit, tugging his arms free and leaving it around his waist to free his hands, befor doing the same with Isaac. Isaac’s shirt was removed however, so the sergeant could get to his shoulder. Carver took his arm, washing away all the blood before smearing the gel onto the wounds. Isaac’s breath tickled the back of his neck as he worked, and Carver felt two things; jittery and confused. He hadn’t shown his softer side in a long time, so why was he showing it now? The soldier supposed he owed it to Isaac, after he saved his life, but he could’ve just made him do it himself, he wasn’t incapacitated. It was true, Isaac had grown on him during their time together, but Carver was beginning to wonder just how much… and what the other man thought of him.  
“I think that arm’s done John.” Isaac murmured, shaking Carver from his thoughts.  
“Uh, right, sorry.” He mumbled, feeling his cheeks heat up as he let go of the engineers arm in favour of the other, instead tending to the wounds on that. He worked in silence for a while, trying not to get distracted by the feel of Isaac’s muscles under his fingers or the steady rise and fall of his chest or the way he was watching Carver work…  
“Carver?” Isaac interrupted, and he glanced up to meet the engineer’s eyes. Christ his eyes are blue, Carver shook it off mentally. He couldn’t be going soft. Especially not for Isaac. He’d sensed that the atmosphere between them had been getting more and more tense lately, and this was the first time he’d been relaxed in a long time. Surprising, seeing as Necromorphs were roaming every inch of the planet. He wondered if it was still the Marker screwing with his head. And that it was here, with Isaac. His fingers stilled, one set on Isaac’s bicep, and one on his wrist, where Carver could feel his pulse.  
“Yeah?” Carver croaked, his mouth having suddenly gone dry, his eyes searching the engineers face. He wasn’t as surprised as he should’ve been when he felt Isaac’s hand on the back of his head, dragging him closer until their lips met. He didn’t react at first, simply allowing Isaac to decide what was happening. His lips automatically began to meld to the engineers however, and he pushed into the kiss, waiting for a moment before releasing Isaac’s to wind one arm around his waist and one around his neck.  
They broke away after a minute for air, Isaac pressing his forehead to Carver’s.  
“I guess I should be sorry for that, but I’m not.” He chuckled softly, still panting. He brought his free hand up to cup Carver’s cheek, smiling more than he had in the last three years. “But at least I found a decent way to shut you up now.” Carver narrowed his eyes and tugged lightly, bringing Isaac closer to the edge of the table.  
“And why would you ever want me to shut up, hm?” There was a hint of playfulness in his tone, which Isaac responded to by pressing a kiss to his nose, then proceeding to press their lips together again. Carver felt his panic and fear be drowned out by Isaac, the way he felt against his lips and under his hands, he couldn’t think about anything else. Tilting his head, Isaac pressed his tongue to Carver’s lips, asking for entry. The soldier obliged, allowing Isaac into his mouth, deepening the kiss. They fought for dominance for a second, but Carver retreated, and Isaac’s grip on him tightened in response, wrapping his legs around his waist and using them to drag him closer until they were pressed flush to one another. Dragging his teeth along Isaac’s lip, Carver slid a hand up into his hair, tugging it lightly to get Isaac to expose his neck, before trailing down to leave kisses over the marks from the earlier wounds. He saw Isaac bite his own lips out of the corner of his eye and smirked, nibbling on the bottom of his ear, pulling a short groan from the engineer.  
“Enjoying yourself?” Carver didn’t get a chance to continue before Isaac was frantically pushing their lips back together, this time attempting and succeeding to remove the soldier’s shirt. Marvelling at his body, Isaac ran his fingers all over Carver’s chest, smiling into the kiss. Shivering lightly under the touch, he pressed close to the engineer again, pausing for a second when he felt hands at his waist.  
“Uh, Isaac, I’ve never… With a guy I mean… Never really been interested in them, hell I don’t know why I’m interested in you!” He pulled away and rambled, Isaac’s legs keeping him in place. A finger on his lips stopped him.  
“It’s okay. You want to, right? I think it’d do you good, clear your head…” Not as if Isaac needed a secondary argument to convince him. Carver nodded and crushed their lips back together. He knew the fundamentals and that’d do. He hoped. Dipping his tongue into Isaac’s mouth, Carver moaned quietly as he felt the engineer drag him ever closer, bumping their growing erections together.  
Isaac’s fingers worked down the bottom half of his suit, leaving it at the bottom of the sergeant’s ankles, who then kicked them off, along with his pants and boots. Isaac quickly followed suit, hopping off the table to do so. Carver sat him back on their quickly, gasping in surprise when he felt Isaac’s lips on his neck and hand around his cock, stroking it slowly. Tilting his head back, John closed his eyes, breath coming harsh as Isaac pumped his fist.  
“Fuck, Isaac…” He began, but was cut off when Isaac kissed him again, but only briefly as the engineer took one of his hands and sucked two of his fingers between his lips. Carver’s eyes turned black and he hissed, pushing his dick closer to Isaac’s hand in the search of more friction. Almost greedily, Isaac was sucking on his fingers, making them slick enough before he pulled away and positioned himself so his ass was sat directly on the edge of the table before indicating for Carver to stretch him open. Getting the idea, Carver pushed a finger straight into Isaac, who wriggled and grunted, hot and tight around his finger.  
“I’ve been fucked before Carver, no need to go too slow on me.” Isaac reassured, spreading his legs and gripping both of Carver’s shoulders for support. Nodding in understanding, John pushed in a second finger and Isaac squirmed again as he began fingering him, biting his lip, a string of curses tumbling from his lips.  
“Spread your fingers, fuck! Yes, oh God, like that…” It was Isaac’s turn to lean his head back and rest it against the wall, chest heaving as Carver finger fucked him, nails digging into the others skin. Carver watched Isaac ravenously, cock growing harder and harder at the sight. “Fuck it, just fuck me now Carver, please…” Isaac moaned, straining to pull him closer. The soldier smirked and withdrew his fingers slowly before positioning his dick, waiting a moment before pushing into Isaac.  
“Fucking tight…” Carver moaned, sheathing his dick fully inside Isaac, leaving them both clutching at each other. He took a moment before pressing his lips back to Isaac’s and beginning to move slowly, fucking Isaac gently, as much as he wanted to ram deep inside him over and over…  
“Harder, fucking hell, I’m not made of glass.” Isaac growled, narrowing his eyes at Carver. He smirked in return before pounding into the engineer with wild abandon, leaving Isaac crying out each time he hit his prostate, Carver busying his lips with his neck.  
“Jesus fuck Isaac.” Carver grunted into his ear, bracing both hands on the table either side of Isaac to brace himself as he fucked the engineer hard enough to jolt the object into the wall. Isaac’s hand wound around his own dick soon enough and he began hissing with need, muttering under his breath as he got closer.  
“Oh, oh, fuck!!” He shouted as he came, clenching and spurting over his hand and stomach. Carver watched, the sight bringing him over the edge, emptying inside Isaac with a few final thrusts.  
They laid still for a few minutes, panting and worn out, before Carver pulled out and replaced his pants, handing Isaac his. “How’s your shoulders?” He queried, and Isaac glanced at both before shrugging.  
“Fine.” They looked at each other for a moment.  
“We should…” Carver gestured to the door.  
“Yeah.” Isaac smiled after a second, standing and pulling on his pants. The pair got dressed in silence, and the engineer turned to Carver. “Did it help?”  
“Yeah. Thanks Isaac.”  
“It’s fine.” He murmured, leaning over to press a kiss to Carver’s lips before securing his helmet. “Now, how about we find an alternate route out of here and go destroy some Marker?” Carver laughed, doing the same.  
“Sounds like a normal day out the way you put it.”  
“Well for me, it is.”


End file.
